Flame consumes the Devil Dogs

PICKENS — “Start to finish tonight was our best effort; a great way to start region play.” Coach Chad Seaborn said of Friday’s contest with Travelers Rest.

The Flame ignited early in the first quarter Friday night and intensified as the night progressed. The Pickens offense led by sophomore quarterback, Elijah Turner, put four touchdowns on the scoreboard in the opening quarter against their conference rival, Travelers Rest. Turner threw three touchdown passes for 163 yards against the Devil Dogs during the night.

Senior Mason Covey scored two touchdowns and passed for a third. “It starts up front and I haven’t given our offensive line the credit for the job they have been doing. To be able to run the ball the way we have, run it with different running backs, to have the time for Elijah to throw to the open receivers and when we do that we are able to do a lot of things.” Coach Seaborn said.

Pickens’ first score on the night came in the first 48 seconds when Jacob Addington scored on a 5-yard run to convert after a 55- yard drive. Matt Gravely added the extra point score to bring the ballgame to 7 – 0 lead over TR.

Mason Covey would add the next points on a pass from Turner with the added extra point for a 14-0 lead. A TR pass from Dalton Kelly to Devario Bruster would give TR their first of two touchdowns on the night and cut the Pickens lead to 14-7. The Flame came back burning hotter than ever as Mason Covey scored on the 5 yard run. Austin Clark and Gunner Covey added to Pickens’ lead and they would finish the first half with a comfortable lead of 45-7 over the Devil Dogs.

The second half would see TR score their last touchdown on a thirty-eight yard run by Dalton Kelley with a two point conversion to give TR 15 points for the night. Pickens would score on a run by Cameron Holder, JC Baker and Tanner Saunders to finish the night. Matt Gravely converted on all nine point-after attempts and a forty-two yard field goal.

“We just came off two of the best weeks of practice, and tonight was just a continuation of that. We were clicking and this was the end result. We were able to play a lot of our guys tonight and that will help to condition them and give them actual game experience and that will benefit the team as well, especially if we lose any of our guys to injuries.” Coach Seaborn said.

Pickens will travel to Eastside next Friday night to face the Eagles in the second 3-A conference game of the season.

Pickens fan and Pickens Middle School football player, Christian Emory said, “It was the best game ever for the Blue Flame!”